This invention relates to a computer-controlled automation system, in particular to a home automation system, which can turn on or off numerous electric devices in a home according to a schedule preset according to religious activities.
For the observant Jew, it is forbidden by Jewish law to turn on or off lights and appliances on Shabbos (the Jewish Sabbath which starts at Sundown Friday and ends Saturday night) and Yom Tov (Jewish Holidays, which occur throughout the year based on the Jewish calendar). While some people simply leave these lights and appliances on or off the entire Shabbos or Yom Tov, many observant Jews choose to use some type of automatic timing device to turn these lights and appliances on and off at preset times. Consequently, one of the big xe2x80x9clittlexe2x80x9d jobs that most people leave for the last minute before Shabbos or Yom Tov is setting their Shabbos clocks or timers, which control such appliances as their lights, air conditioners, the crock pot, and, on Yom Tov, their ovens or stoves. Friday, so the old saying goes, xe2x80x9cis a short day,xe2x80x9d with seemingly a million things to do to get ready for Shabbos.
Previously, a mechanical timer with a little clock dial for each separate lamp, crock pot, or other electrical appliance was used to turn all of these devices on and off . The difficulty in maintaining the schedule for these clocks is due to two factors. First, Shabbos, as well as Yom Tov, starts at Sundown. Second, the Jewish calendar is based on the lunar cycle and, therefore, Jewish Holidays come out on different English dates as well as different days of the week. Consequently, schedules are constantly changing and the time clocks always have to be reset and adjusted.
Eventually, home automation systems were developed which allowed centralized scheduling of the various lights and appliances in the home either using a timed controller or a computer. On/off command signals are sent out to control each appliance via the home wiring system. However, all of these systems have two major drawbacks as they relate to scheduling for Shabbos and Yom Tov. First, they are based on the English calendar, and second, schedules still had to be adjusted manually since the times would change from week to week.
All these problems were solved in a home automation system produced by the same inventor of this application in which Torah and technology were combined. The schedule for turning on/off of all the electrical devices is generated according to Jewish calendar and Jewish religious activities combined with the particular life style of the family. The system automatically generates a new schedule weekly and knows when Jewish Holidays are coming and generates the appropriate schedule for them. The user does not have to make any adjustments from week to week. The automation system, however, does allow the user to set special schedules for particular activities to override the regular schedule so that individual needs might be considered and flexibly incorporated. However, the automation system still needs some improvements.
The present invention is directed to improving the above home automation system.
According to the present invention, a home automation system comprises a plurality of switches for turning on/off each of the devices, a computer having means for generating a regular schedule of an on/off time for each of the devices and means for generating a special schedule of an on/off time for at least one of the devices. A user interface or a mechanical means is provided for manually selecting between the regular schedule and special schedules for the devices. The switches are automatically activated according to the selected schedule.
The regular schedule is set according to Jewish calendar and rules on Jewish religious activities while the special schedule may be set according to length of day time in different seasons or according to needs of the user for some particular activities.
The regular schedule and special schedules may be updated at a preset interval and the updated schedules may be reported to a monitoring system remotely located from the home.
The system may further comprise means for automatically synchronizing the clock in the computer with the National Bureau of Standards atomic clock.